Juan opened his eyes,

“What time is it…” Juan said, yawning.

Ahhhh!!!

At the same time, Juan suddenly heard someone yell in fright. He hurriedly rushed out of his tent with his weapon and looked for the source of the voice.

"Maria!?"

Just then, a stray beast suddenly entered Maria's tent!

Bang!

Juan saw this scene and rushed over. He lifted his steel sword and slashed down, chopping off the weird thing that tried to pounce on Maria’s foot.

“Go to hell!!!” Maria recovered from her shock, she looked at the body of the beast lying on the ground and stomped on it directly!

Bang bang bang!

Its small body was crushed into a meat paste in an instant.

...

“It's already dead"

Juan sighed and looked at Maria speechlessly,

"Can you not panic every time you see something weird?" Juan reprimanded her while scanning the surroundings in case if there's more of them.

Maria was too nervous just now and scared herself instead.

“How can he be so scared by the monster, even before she actually fights? She is probably doted on in her household and didn't get to experience any battle with beasts out in the wild alone", Juan thought.

After that small incident, they packed up and continued on their journey.

...

Time passed quickly,

They met many lone beasts and most of the time, Juan let Maria deal with them for training her skills in dealing with beasts.

Grrrr-

The sounds of a wolf growling.

A horned wolf pack of four appeared in front of them, which made Maria nervous but with the help of Juan they successfully eliminated them all.

Thud-

The last horned wolf fell,

As Juan dealt with the last remaining horned wolf, he looked at the distance in front of them.

The duo arrived at the location according to the information.

Juan sheathed his steel sword and looked for a place to test while Maria followed behind him after cleaning the battlefield. They didn't collect the materials as they already filled one bag and they couldn't use the spare bag left, as they still have to raid the power ants' nest later.

"So much money wasted"

Juan cried inside at the thought of this,

It was Maria's turn to look at Juan speechlessly, she thought that since Juan was so good with the sword then he should be a noble or something.

She hurriedly consoled him and said, "Don't worry, you can have the rewards later because I can go buy my own."

"Right she's only here for the school's assignment anyway and doesn't lack resources." As Juan thought of this he became spirited and didn't regret bringer her anymore.

But Juan still didn't feel good, he decided that he will protect Maria and clear this mission perfectly without any accidents happening later.

Soon, they found a place to rest near the cave and camped there for rest to get ready for the battle that's going to happen later.

Juan was not that tired but to raid in his peak condition is a wise choice to avoid accidents from happening.

He was a bit tired from the long walk anyway so he took a nap while letting Maria guard. She still has lots of energy to spare which was thanks to her monster mount.

...

Time passed and 3 hours later,

Juan thought that this was enough rest and took the necessary items needed to raid a monster's nest.

"Let's go, are you ready?" Juan stood up and asked Maria.

She nodded and stood up too then she followed him while Juan took the lead.

Inside the cave,

“It’s so dark…” Maria said aloud and her voice echoed in the spacious cave. The inside of this cave was completely dark and the visibility was very low.

“Good thing we have these…” With the stone that Maria took out lighting up the place, Maria could at least see a bit and not go blind.

Both of them took out the light stone and hung them on their waist.

"Shhh! be careful, don't let your guard down"

Juan signaled her to stay quiet and be alert.

It was never truly right to let your guard down in the wild outside the city, let alone when clearing out a monster's nest.

They walked deeper into the cave.

After walking for 2 minutes straight, Juan stopped walking and stared at the location in front of them.

Screech

There was a sound of screeching near them.

Juan unsheathed his steel sword and at the same time Maria took out her rapier too.

They saw the horrifying monster in front of them, it had the size of a normal wolf and have deep red carapaces.

Power ants

There were three of them, two at the front and one at the back.

"Get into formation" Juan shouted.

The power ants screeched loudly and charged at the human intruders in front of them.

Juan took care of them while Maria supported him at the back. He couldn't block the charge so he dodged at the side while searching for their weaknesses.

Maria dodged and also retreated a bit to attract the aggro of the power ants. One power ant who missed his charge attacked maria.

"Good job"

Juan closed in and leaped above the ant,

He landed on its back and stabbed his steel sword at the gap in its neck. He gripped his sword hard and twisted it.

Thud-

Green blood flowed and it fell to the ground.

There were only two power ants left so they each took one as their opponent.

There were no mishaps and Juan was satisfied with Maria's performance. She's more reliable than last time where she had almost zero experience against fighting with monsters.

After collecting their antennas they continued to go deeper into the cave.

They met another three power ants which they followed the same process of defeating it.

Along the way, both of them got more skilled at killing it quickly and memorized its weaknesses.

As they headed deeper and deeper into the cave, they encountered the same number of ants until it increases to the number of 5 power ants.

Looking at the five power ants and looking at the nervous Maria beside him, Juan felt a headache.

"Don't worry, just support me from the back"

Juan gripped his sword harder and his eyes constricted.

The power ant charged in Juan's direction while another one attacked Maria.

Juan avoided the attack and stabbed the ant's right eye, piercing its brain. On the other hand, Maria continuously let out a barrage of attacks at the ant's head.

Spurt

Green blood fell and Maria jumped high and kicked the power ant's head heavily, the head fell to the ground.

Screech

The remaining three got angry and joined the fight.

Two power ants charged at Maria's position and one kept Juan from helping her.

"Damn it"

Juan cursed at the sight of this.

He hurriedly killed the power ant but it was too late. Two ants charged at her at the same time. She panicked and dodged the first strike but she got hit by the second one.

She wore armor so her bones were fine, but that doesn't mean that she's safe.

Thud-

She got dizzy and fell to the ground heavily.

Ahhh-

Juan heard Maria's scream and quickly rushed to help her.

He leaped above and swung his sword at the ant's neck. The ant died and its head was cut while green blood flowed then he slashed at the remaining one.

Peng-

It felt like cutting rock and his arm felt a little numb, his sword penetrated the hard carapace but didn't go in deep. It didn't really deal that much damage but it was enough to attract its attention and leave Maria alone.

The ant felt pain and screeched loudly at Juan, trying to bite him.

Pssh-

Without any hesitation, he thrust his sword at the power ant's mouth and his steel sword pierced through its hard head.

Plop-

Green blood dripped on the floor and covered his body. The tension in Juan eased and fatigue came over him.

“Huuu—”

Panting, Juan headed to Maria's position and looked at her who was lying on the ground.

"Phew, are you okay?"

- End of chapter 7 -